Measuring
customer satisfaction has far wider ramifications than merely knowing that they
had a smile on their face once they’d made their purchase. A company’s very
existence can depend on it.

It is, of
course, gratifying to know that the product or service you have worked so hard
to create is sufficiently well received to ensure repeat business and, if
you’re lucky, to build a great reputation. There are, however, more fundamental
reasons to care about what your customers think.

Why do I
need this?

Whether or
not you measure customer satisfaction, or are required to within your field,
there are industries which offer little choice in this regard. Firms which
carry a qualitative accreditation, such as those of the International Standards
Organisation (ISO), or other sector-specific accreditations in such fields as
IT or health, will be held to account during audits and measured against
specific criteria when it comes to customer satisfaction. A failure to meet the
levels expected can have serious consequences for them, such as failing the
audit and even losing their accreditation. In turn, some of their clients will
have a policy of not using (or not being allowed to use) a company which does
not meet the standard.

The
requirements of ISO 9001:2015, for example, call for a performance measurement
system to be in place to record, monitor and measure everything from customers’
complaints and rejections, through to trends for on-time delivery, customer
surveys and scorecards. Not only must firms collect this data, but they have an
obligation to analyse the results and effectiveness of the system.

This may
seem somewhat onerous, but companies already used to the quality system find
that maintaining it brings the added advantage of habitual good housekeeping.
This ensures an almost guaranteed level of quality in the context of products
and services and helps to quickly identify the source of a complaint or fault
when it does arise. Thousands of new businesses of all sizes apply for
accreditation every year, especially if they are hoping to gain lucrative
long-term work, particularly in the public sector. You may even wish to do the
same yourself at some stage.

Does repeat
business mean satisfied customers?

So, you
already know that many of your customers return with repeat business. That must
mean they love what they’re getting, right? Not necessarily.

There are a
variety of reasons why customers return, not all of them positive. Could it be
that there are no alternatives in your location? If so, they may begin to look
elsewhere or move to a competitor new to the area. Could it be that the person
making the purse-string decisions is lazy and hasn’t bothered to look for
alternatives? If that’s the reason, then a change in staff could well bring
with it a search for another supplier. Finally, could it be that you are the
cheapest? It may surprise you to learn that many companies are actually
prepared to pay a little more for better service and it may only be a matter of
time before your clients chose to do precisely that.

One way to
know for sure how satisfied your customers are is to have a satisfaction
process in place, to monitor it, analyse it and then act on the results. You
will be repaid in more ways than you might imagine.